Hellbender

Izzy and her mother live in a secluded woods cabin, making metal music and surviving on a strictly vegan, foraged diet. They homeschool Izzy and forbid any contact with others, insisting Izzy has an autoimmune disease. Their life is quiet, controlled, and cut off from the outside world.

A chance encounter with a teenage neighbor breaks their routine. Izzy meets the neighbor near the house in the woods, and the neighbor invites her to a party in town. The invitation promises a chance to see life beyond the woods, which excites and worries Izzy at once.

Izzy travels to the party in town after accepting the invitation. The outing marks her first contact with other people in years. The sense of danger and curiosity mingles as she contemplates how much she should reveal.

At the party, Izzy accepts a dare to eat a worm. She begins to hallucinate, seeing things that blur the line between reality and myth. Her behavior alarms the hosts and the teen neighbor, and her mother becomes aware of what happened.

Back at their woods home, Izzy's mother is disturbed by what happened. She starts to tell Izzy that they are Hellbenders and hints at a hidden power awakening in her daughter. The conversation marks the first explicit reveal of their true nature.

Izzy realizes she was never truly ill and that the isolation was designed to keep her from her heritage. The revelation shifts her sense of identity and fuels a craving to exercise new powers. The world Izzy thought she knew begins to crack open.

Izzy's power grows as she begins killing animals in the forest. She becomes increasingly hungry for fear and power, testing the limits of what she can consume. The more she eats, the stronger her abilities become.

To bond and maintain closeness, Izzy's mother shares her own stash of mealworms and they ingest them together. The experience becomes hallucinogenic, blurring boundaries between mother and daughter. The moment deepens their bond even as the danger of Izzy's power looms.

During the trip, the mother reveals she is over a hundred years old and that Hellbenders reproduce by consuming their mothers. Izzy absorbs the shocking truth about lineage and the ultimate cost of power.

Izzy constructs a tunnel under the house and traps the teenage neighbor there, using them as a potential food source. She remains calm and confident, signaling a chilling shift in her moral compass.

The mother discovers the trap and confronts Izzy. Izzy calmly asserts that she is not in danger and that she is not yet ready to become a mother. The exchange confirms a growing rift between them.

Izzy tells the mother she is heading to town and then soars into the sky, revealing her full monstrous Hellbender form for the first time. The transformation marks the culmination of her awakening and rejection of her former life.